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Northwest Indiana Woman Says She's Stuck With Lagging Internet Service, Can't Switch Providers

HOBART, Ind. (CBS) -- If you're working from home, you know how important a good internet connection is.

A Northwest Indiana woman said she has tried just about everything, but her internet provider cannot fix her lagging connection – and because of where she lives, she can't switch providers.

And as CBS 2's Tim McNicholas reported, the woman, Lori Worline, is not the only one experiencing issues.

"I am so frustrated," Worline said.

Worline's speed, according to three different tests, is lower than 3 Mbps. One test even reminded her, "Your internet connection is very slow."

She doesn't need the reminder that it seems to get worse every time she logs on.

"I have done the attorney general, I don't know how many times," she said. "I've written the FCC."

Worline said she also complained to her provider, Frontier, for years with no luck. But now that she is working from home, she is having trouble uploading important files, and her internet is cutting off at crucial times.

She said Frontier has come to her house in Hobart a few times over since May to try to fix it, but she is still in small motion.

"If I can't do my job, then I have to go on the unemployment line with how many million people?" Worline said.

And Worline is not the only one complaining. Her neighbors two doors down said they also had Frontier, and wound up switching to a satellite. But they said that is just as bad.

Frontier has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, with 3,600 complaints filed in the past year.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection this past spring. Worline and her neighbors have tried to switch to other internet providers.

"Some them will really build your hopes up and say, 'Oh yeah, we can help you, we can do that,' and then they'll call you back like an hour later and say, 'Oh no, we can't do that, because we don't, we can't provide service in your area,'" Worline said.

Worline said she is less than a mile from people with solid internet connections with other companies. Nonetheless, she lives in a somewhat rural stretch of Hobart, and experts said high-speed internet is still harder to secure in remote areas.

The Federal Communications Commission called Connect America, meant to secure broadband access to areas that need it.

Worline and her neighbors are hoping they might find a way to help them.

We reached out to Frontier, and they said they are looking into Worline's situation.

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